In the tradition of "RASHOMON" and "GATE OF HELL."
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Producer: Shigeru Wakatsuki
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
183 min
Rating: 7.715/10
Released
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Top Cast
Michiyo Aratama
First Wife (segment "The Black Hair")
Rentaro Mikuni
Husband (segment "The Black Hair")
Misako Watanabe
Second Wife (segment "The Black Hair")
Kenjirล Ishiyama
Father (segment "The Black Hair")
Fumie Kitahara
(segment "The Black Hair")
Movie Info
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Producer: Shigeru Wakatsuki
Production Companies: Ninjin Club
Countries: Japan
Now Streaming On
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Criterion Channel
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What Others Said
CinemaSerf:
I'm always a little daunted when I settle down in a cinema seat for a film that is 3 hours long - I fear the last glass of wine may have been one too many - but this simply flew by. It is a compendium of four different Japanese "poems" that deal with just about every emotion in the human panoply - love, hate, greed, joy, fear, envy, betrayal... You name it! Each story has a central theme that, perhaps not terribly sophisticated to anyone with a fairly well-centred moral compass of their own, delivers a salutatory lesson in what is decent and what is flawed about human nature, even amongst the best of us. "In A Cup of Tea" - is a wonderfully intriguing story and my personal favourite is "Hoichi" - featuring a blind priest who can sing such beautiful songs but at such a fearful price. The staging is superb, though the fight scenes - especially on the water - maybe a little too studio-bound to be truly effective. The colours and sounds test every range of your senses; ecstasy and despair, bliss and rage and leave you, at the end, feeling as drained and fulfilled, simultaneously, as any film could hope to possibly engender... This really is a glorious roller-coaster of a ride!